Bounding the large semicircular contour in integrals like $\oint\frac{e^{iz}}{z}\, dz$

104 Views Asked by At

Considering the large semicircular arc $\Gamma$ in the upper half plane of $\oint{\frac{e^{iz}}{z}\,dz}$ using the Estimation Lemma with $z=Re^{i\theta}, \theta\in[0,\pi]$ means :

$$\sup\left|\frac{e^{iRe^{i\theta}}}{Re^{i\theta}}\right|= \sup\frac{|e^{iR(\cos\theta+i\sin\theta)}|}{R}=\sup\frac{|e^{-R\sin\theta}|}{R}$$

How can the numerator be simplified? In the range $\sin\theta$ can be positive, and as $R\to\infty$ the original semicircle wouldn’t vanish. If the integral inequality $\left|\int_{a}^{b}{f(x)\,dx}\right|\leq\int_{a}^{b}{|f(x)|\, dx}$ is used you can double the integral and use $\frac{\pi}{2}$ as the bound instead, and then use Jordan’s inequality. But the Estimation lemma follows from the integral inequality, so it must still be possible to bound the expression.

EDIT : Yes, Jordan's Lemma can be used, but I was more interested in how this extends to the definition of the Estimation Lemma and the absolute value (given it does not contain an integral, but rather an upper bound)

1

There are 1 best solutions below

4
On BEST ANSWER

Essentially, you should use the Lebesgue convergence theorem (a.k.a. dominated convergence): If $\Gamma_R$ denotes the upper semicircle of Radius $R>0$, then (skipping everything you already did)

$$\left|\int\limits_{\Gamma_R} \frac{e^{iz}}{z}dz\right| \leq \cdots\leq \int\limits_0^\pi e^{-R\sin\theta}d\theta. \hspace{1cm}(*)$$

The family $(F_R)_{R>0}$ with $F_R : [0,\pi]\longrightarrow\mathbb{R}$, $\theta\longmapsto e^{-R\sin\theta}$ converges to $0$ pointwise almost everywhere on $[0,\pi]$ for $R\longrightarrow\infty$, and is dominated by the $L^1([0,\pi])$-function $\theta\longmapsto1$. Thus, the Lebesgue theorem can be applied and it follows that the integral on the right hand side of $(*)$ tends to $0$ for $R\longrightarrow 0$.

Alternatively (essentially doing the proof of the dominated convergence theorem by hand), for any $\varepsilon>0$, there exists a $R>0$ so that $|F_R(\theta)| \leq\frac{\varepsilon}{\pi}$ for all $\theta\in I_\varepsilon:=[0+\frac{\varepsilon}{2},\pi-\frac{\varepsilon}{2}]$. For all other values, i.e. for $\theta\in J_\varepsilon:=(I_\varepsilon)^c = [0,\frac{\varepsilon}{2})\cup(\pi-\frac{\varepsilon}{2},\pi]$, we still can use that $|F_R(\theta)|\leq 1$, so: $$\int\limits_0^\pi e^{-R\sin\theta}d\theta \leq \int\limits_{I_\varepsilon} \underbrace{F_R(\theta)}_{\leq\frac{\varepsilon}{\pi}}d\theta + \int\limits_{J_\varepsilon} \underbrace{F_R(\theta)}_{\leq 1} d\theta \leq \underbrace{\lambda(I_\varepsilon)}_{\leq \pi}\cdot\frac{\varepsilon}{\pi} + \underbrace{\lambda(J_\varepsilon)}_{\leq 2\frac{\varepsilon}{2}}\cdot1 \leq 2\varepsilon$$

Here, $\lambda$ denotes the $1$-dimensional Lebesgue measure, or in this case just the "length" of a real interval, i.e. $\lambda([a,b])=b-a$.